Voyage To The Centre Of The Spy
by ian.cotterill.56
Summary: The Spies find themselves facing a whole heap of trouble as Dr Vomesa and Diminutive Smalls have teamed up to take over the world. But when the small-sized villains' scheme goes wrong, Alex finds herself with a bomb in her tummy! Will Sam and Clover be able to help their friend in time before she ends up being blown to pieces along with WOOHP?
1. Prologue

**This story was originally co-written with MOVIELORD101, who came up with the basic plot idea and gave advice on the writing.**

**The adventure takes place after the events of my previous story 'Spyfall', in which there had been a big prison breakout at WOOHP and Alex got herself a new hairdo.**

**Many thanks to fellow 'Totally Spies' ****writer jettmanas, who created some new cover-art for this story.**

* * *

It was a dark and shadowy evening at the dockyards of New York City, just the way that WOOHP agent Jim Band liked it. It made it easier for him to keep out of sight as he quietly observed the abandoned 'Rouse Construction' warehouse, in which he suspected lurked the two escaped convicts that he had been assigned to recapture. The kind of agent who preferred to work alone, Band was used to skulking in the shadows, readying himself for the right moment to strike and take his opponents unaware. Using all the experience he had learnt over the years that he had been a WOOHP spy, he moved silently and cautiously across the docks, taking care to avoid being spotted by the two hulking henchmen guarding the main doors. Satisfied that he had not been seen, Band crept over to the side of the large warehouse and carefully peered through the slightly ajar window.

"Ah, gotcha," he grinned to himself as he saw that inside the warehouse were the two villains he was searching for: Dr Vomesa and the two-feet tall Diminutive Smalls. They were busy working on some kind of futuristic-looking submersible craft about the size of a small lorry and equipped with various advanced weapons and tools, like lasers and grappling arms. It took Band just a second to realise that this was an upgraded version of Dr Vomesa's micro-sub, the one he used to infiltrate Jerry's brain in order to take over WOOHP. Placed next to the sub was what looked like a large mounted ray gun, pointed directly at the submarine. Presumably, this was Diminutive Smalls' diabolical Alpha-X9 shrinking machine, all ready to shrink the sub down to micro-size once it was all ready.

"Perfect," announced Vomesa as he finished making the last connections for the control panel. "Our fully armed micro-sub is now ready for its test flight. With it, we'll be able to infiltrate the United Nations building with ease."

"And then, we'll infiltrate the brains of all the world leaders one by one and install mind-controlling micro-chips, placing them all under our control," leered Smalls. "The world will be ours to command in no time flat!"

"Indeed so," said Vomesa. "You have learnt well, my old colleague. All that remains to be done is to power up the shrinking ray and reduce the sub to micro-size."

Listening in to every word, Band calmly considered his options. He could try to tackle the two scientists now on his own, but he had read the files on both criminals, and a one-man attack would be quite unwise, considering the devious cunning of both villains. Besides which, he did not know just how many other henchmen were in there with the two baddies, so it was probably wiser to call in some reinforcements first.

But before Band even had a chance to reach for his communicator, something grabbed his foot and he found himself being tossed right through the air! With a yell of alarm, he crashed into some nearby crates, sending splinters of wood flying about the place. Rubbing his head with a groan, Band looked up and was astonished to see that he had been attacked by a two-foot tall woman, who had quietly snuck up behind him while his attention was on the two rogue scientists.

"Oh blast," Band muttered to himself as he realised that he had been taken down by Diminutive Smalls' sister Sally, who was just as twisted and evil as her brother.

"Lyle! Merle! Get over here now. We have an intruder!" yelled Sally to the two henchmen guarding the main doors. She then turned to face Band, an evil smile crossing her face. "Good thing I decided to scout around and make sure no one was listening in, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I must congratulation your vigilance," sighed Band, raising his arms in surrender as Vomesa's two underlings ran over and aimed their rifles at him. As the villains began to march the WOOHP agent into the warehouse, Band began to grind his teeth, apparently in frustration. But what Sally, Lyle and Merle did not realise was that Band was actually activating a switch built into his false tooth that activated a homing beacon, signalling directly to WOOHP.

"_Hope you're listening in, Chief," _Band thought glumly to himself as he was led into the villains' stronghold.


	2. The Trouble With Mandy

It was another gloriously sunny day at Mali-U and most of the students were out enjoying the sunshine. At present, Sam, Clover and Alex were happily taking a walk along the beach back to the Mali-U dorm, after having spent a few hours earlier working out at the Spa/Gym facility. The three girls had all fully recovered from the various injuries they had sustained a few weeks ago and they were now currently spending their time getting back into shape for their spy missions.

"Boy, I sure needed that workout," remarked Alex. "I was worried that I was going to be way out of shape after being stuck in that wheelchair for all those weeks."

"And I'm glad that all those nasty bandages are no longer wrapped around my head," added Clover. "It sure is good to have the coif back out again."

"Speaking of hairdos, I see you've decided to keep your new perm look, Alex," remarked Sam on the new hairstyle that Alex had acquired for herself while the girls had been on sick leave.

"Well, it's kinda proved more popular than I thought it would," answered Alex as she ran a finger through one of her wavy locks, "and I quite like my new curls, so I thought I'd just keep my hair styled like this for a while, maybe even let it grow a bit longer. Hey, maybe you guys might like to try out a new hairdo too."

"Nah, I'm happy with my coif styled the way it always has been, thanks very much," said Clover.

The girls continued chatting away till they reached the dorm entrance, where they suddenly became aware of loud voices bellowing from inside.

"Hey, what's with all the commotion in there?" asked Clover.

The girls walked into the reception area where a large crowd of their fellow students had gathered to watch a shouting match taking place between Tara Robson, one of the girls' fellow classmates, and Mandy, queen of the spoiled brats. Tara was an attractive girl, with tanned skin and long dark brown hair, and dressed in a pink top with a purple-and-white striped skirt and a purple beret perched on her head. Normally she was one of the cheeriest students on campus, but right now she was seething with anger.

"Come on, Mandy, admit it!" yelled Tara. "You bribed those judges and you know it! Matt overheard that intern of yours on the phone, saying that he'll be making the final payment to them this week!"

"Oh puh-lease! That's no real proof," leered Mandy mockingly. "Those judges picked me as the winner because I'm the most talented singer in Malibu. Certainly far more talented than a pathetic wannabe like you!"

"Most talented singer? Just what is going on here?" asked Sam, raising an eyebrow.

Tom West, another of the dorm's residents, turned to answer. "It's about the annual Malibu singing contest held last week. Tara here had signed up for the competition as had Mandy."

"Oh yeah, I remember seeing all the posters for that," said Clover. "We ended up having to miss it cause we had to be at the infirmary that day to have our leg casts removed."

"Yeah, well Tara had given a stunning performance of 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin, and by all rights, she should have been the winner. But for some reason, the judges voted for Mandy, who was nowhere near as good a singer as Tara."

"Let me guess," said Alex wearily. "It now looks as though Mandy had cheated. _Again_."

Tom nodded. "Matt overheard Trent talking to the judges on the phone, saying that Mandy would make the final payment to their bank accounts later this week. Tara was really steamed up when she heard the news and she's now trying to get Mandy to confess. The trouble is that there's no real proof that Mandy had bribed the judges at all."

As Tom finished the explanations, the argument had come to an end.

"Face it, loser! You'll never amount to anything, unlike moi! And if you continue with these wild accusations, you'll end up hearing from my lawyer. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare for some upcoming tv interviews," smirked Mandy before she went off to spruce herself up. Tara slumped her shoulders dejectedly and sadly walked off to her room with a small tear in her eye.

"Honestly, you'd think someone would have done something by now to put Mandy in her place," said Donna Walker angrily, as she ran off to comfort Tara.

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement. Over the last couple of years, the various members of the dorm had formed a very low opinion of Mandy, due to the various low-handed tricks she had played on them. The first big incident was when Mandy and her cousin Mindy had tried to frame Sam, Clover and Alex for messing up the dorm, in order to seize the girls' penthouse for themselves. Needless to say, when the truth came out, the other students were furious with Mandy and Mindy, and everyone in the dorm had to be extremely apologetic to the three girls for the way they had been treated. The second incident was when Mandy rigged the dorm's Secret Santa event so that she would get most of the presents, leaving everyone else diddled. And now, Mandy had seemingly cheated at the singing contest which Tara should have rightfully won. There was a silent agreement among everyone in the dorm that enough was enough.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of Mandy and all her cheating," grumbled Clover as she and her two friends made their way to the front door of their penthouse. "It really chaps my hide the way she treats everyone else like dirt!"

"Totes!" agreed Alex. "But what can we do about it? Mandy and Trent will deny everything and say that Tara is just making wild stories."

"I'm sure we'll think of something," said Sam. "For now, let's just... Whoooaaaaa!"

Before the conversation could progress any further, a hatchway suddenly opened in the wall next to the girls, producing a powerful vacuum which abruptly sucked them in and deposited them on the familiar chute leading to WOOHP headquarters. Expecting to land on the office sofa as usual, the spies were surprised to find themselves on top of a large inflatable cushion instead.

"Wow Jerry. It's been a while since you had this cushion out," said Alex appreciatively, remembering how Jerry had the cushion briefly installed before their trip to WOOHP's Paris branch a couple of years ago.

"Afternoon superspies," said Jerry cheerily from his desk. "I wasn't sure if you three were still feeling a bit sore after the last few weeks, so I thought you might appreciate a softer landing this time round."

"Thanks, Jerr," smiled Sam, "though we are feeling much better now after the workouts we've been having the last week."

"Yeah, Jerry," said Clover ecstatically. "We're totally ready for whatever mission you're about to send our way."

"I hope so girls," said Jerry a little more seriously, "because I'm afraid you're going to be in for a bit of double trouble. You see, Dr Vomesa and Diminutive Smalls are on the loose."

"Uh oh, I don't like the sound of that," said Alex gravely.

"But Jerry, I thought you said they were both recaptured after the breakout last month," pointed out Sam.

"That's what we thought too," replied Jerry. "Unfortunately, it transpires that the captured man we thought was Vomesa was one of his henchmen in disguise and the apprehended 'Diminutive Smalls' was in actuality one of his siblings wearing a rubber mask. As soon as we realised the deception, I had agent Jim Band get back on their trail, but I fear he may have gotten into some danger. About twenty minutes ago, we received a distress signal from him in the area of the New York dockyards and have been unable to get back in touch with him since then."

"So let me guess. You want us to go in there and rescue him?" asked Clover.

"Indeed. Now for this rescue mission, you'll be supplied with Lip Balm Smoke Bombs; M-ray Contact Lenses; Titanium Drill Heel Boots; the Chameleon Eye Shadow; and the Net Throwing Extendable Rod Mascara. Now remember superspies, Vomesa and Smalls may well have some formidable henchmen with them, so please take extra care."

"No sweat, Jerr. We'll be careful," said Sam sincerely before turning to her teammates. "Okay girls. Time to get back into action!"


	3. The Big Fight

Just under an hour later, the girls had arrived at the New York dockyards and hidden themselves behind some crates in order to observe the warehouse where Band's distress signal was coming from. As Sam and Alex kept watch, Clover quietly put on the M-ray Contact Lenses and did a quick scan of the building.

"Okay, as far as I can see, Vomesa and Smalls are both in there, along with Vomesa's three henchmen and Smalls' sister," reported Clover in a whisper. "It looks like they're securing Jim Band to some kind of nasty dissection table."

"So how are we going to take them all down and rescue Band?" asked Alex. "I mean those guys are really tough. It's not going to be easy overpowering them."

"I think I've got an idea," replied Sam, smiling in inspiration. "Here's what we do..."

* * *

"There! All nice and secure," said Willie, another of Vomesa's henchmen, as he finished locking the metal clamps that secured Jim Band to the steel table placed in the centre of the warehouse. Band watched calmly as Smalls then redirected a smaller version of his shrinking ray to aim at the bottom of the table. Smalls flicked a switch and a beam of light shot out and slowly began working its way up the table towards Band's chest.

"Well Mr Band, you have just 90 seconds to relinquish the new access codes for WOOHP security," sneered Smalls as he operated the laser controls. "You see, once we're done with the UN, we will be directing our attention to destroying WOOHP and every one of its agents."

"Do you really expect me to squeal on my colleagues?" asked Band incredulously, raising an eyebrow.

"No, Mr Band. I actually expect you to be shrunk to the size of a fly and then get splatted accordingly," admitted Smalls with an evil smile.

"Enough with the cliché deathtrap, Smalls," said Vomesa impatiently as he began to clamber into the micro-sub. "We have no time for all this nonsense. We must get the sub underway before the rest of WOOHP gets here."

"Meh, you worry too much," said Smalls dismissively. "We've already searched this guy and he has no tracking device on him. There's no chance of anyone else finding us here."

Had Smalls bothered to look down at the floor at that point, he would have realised just how wrong he was. Unseen, a small drill swiftly poked through the hard granite ground, leaving a small hole. Before anyone knew what was happening, a couple of tubes of lip balm were tossed out of the hole, whereupon the tubes began dispensing out thick purple smoke which smothered the entire warehouse interior, obscuring everything.

"Hey, what's going on?" exclaimed Smalls in alarm as the thick smoke clouded his vision.

At that moment, the main doors burst open and Clover and Alex dashed in for the attack. Even without the thick smoke bloating everything out, the villains would not be able to see the two superspies as they had put on their Chameleon Eye Shadow which made them invisible to the naked eye. As a result, Vomesa's three burly henchmen were quite unable to defend themselves as Clover and Alex began delivering various karate kicks and punches to the unfortunate bad guys.

"Quick, you fool! Get in the sub!" yelled Vomesa. Hurriedly, Smalls dashed over to the micro-sub and began to climb in, just as Sam finished drilling her way through the ground and leapt out to join the battle.

"Gah, can't you fools do anything right?" yelled Sally Smalls as she watched her three fellow criminals get tossed about the place and sent crashing to the floor, quite unconscious. Sally quickly pulled out some infrared goggles and put them on, enabling her to see the three invisible spies.

"Ah, gotcha," she said as she pulled out a laser pistol and took careful aim at the girls. But as she started to squeeze the trigger, Jim Band was just about able to see what she was doing through the thick smoke and he quickly shouted a warning.

"Agents, look out behind you!"

The girls whirled to see Sally pointing a gun at them and they swiftly leapt clear as the evil midget began firing a series of deadly laser beams at them. As this was all going on, the Alpha-X9 shrinking machine began to operate and fired a beam of light at the micro-sub which began to shrink down in size, until it was as small as a satsuma pip. Inside the sub, Vomesa and Smalls were at the control panel, watching the unfolding battle on the monitor screen.

"Splendid. Now let's get out of here while they're all busy," smiled Vomesa as he operated the controls. A few seconds later, the micro-sub's thrusters engaged and the vehicle began to lift off into the air.

"What?! But we can't abandon Sally to those pesky brats!" exclaimed Smalls as he shoved Vomesa aside and began to fly the vehicle towards the spies. He was just about to activate the sub's many deadly weapons when Vomesa grabbed the steering controls.

"We have no time for this," snapped Vomesa. "Revenge must wait for later. We must get underway to the United Nations building to carry out my brilliant plan!"

"Your plan?!" sneered Smalls as he tried to pull the steering lever away from Vomesa. "We worked on this together, you old fool! And I'm not going to miss out on an opportunity to get rid of those spy girls once and for all!"

"Me a fool!" countered Vomesa angrily. "I wasn't the one who got myself reduced to the size of a doll!"

As the two mad scientists continued to argue and fight over the controls of the micro-sub, they forgot to watch out where they were flying. Smalls finally glanced up and his face fell as he suddenly realised where they were heading.

"Look out!" he shouted. But by then, it was already too late.

Alex was still busy dodging laser blasts when she suddenly began to cough and splutter, feeling as though she had just swallowed a fly. Thinking that she must have breathed in a bit too much smoke, she ignored the small ache in her throat and concentrated on the rather more urgent problem of dealing with the gun-toting midget on the ground.

"Um ladies, I don't wish to cause undue pressure," called out Jim Band as he watched the miniaturising laser beam get closer and closer, "but I reckon I have about twenty seconds before I'm reduced to the size of a flea!"

Hearing Band's cry for help, Sam quickly leapt forward. Landing in front of the miniaturising ray, before yelling at Sally. "Hey, Barbie girl! Over here!"

Sally whirled to see Sam standing in front of the shrinking apparatus and quickly opened fire. Sam once again leapt clear and the powerful death rays instead impacted with the shrinking machine, causing it to explode into fragments! Band sighed in relief as the shrinking ray suddenly dissipated into nothing, just as it was an inch away from hitting him.

Incensed, Sally tried to fire her gun again, only to find that she had used up all the power in her weapon, leaving it useless. Seizing her chance, Clover got out the Net Throwing Extendable Rod Mascara from her backpack and fired a net at the small villainess, trapping her instantly.

"Okay, that's the henchmen taken care of. Now where are the two evil braniacs?" asked Clover as the Chameleon Eye Shadow started to wear off.

"Oh no! They must have gotten away in the confusion!" realised Sam as she began to free Band from the steel table.

"Yes, and the micro-sub is gone too," added Band seriously. "That must be how they escaped."

"Hic! We better call Jerry right... Hic! Away!" said Alex as she pulled out her compowder. A few seconds later, the hologram of Jerry's face appeared.

"Ah spies, how's the rescue going?"

"Oh it's gone... Hic! Fine! Except for the part where... Hic! Vomesa and Smalls have gotten away and I have some major... Hic! Hiccups!" said Alex.

"Oh my, that does sound bad," remarked Jerry.

"I think I know where they're heading though, chief," replied Band as Sam removed the last of his restraints. "Their plan is to infiltrate the brains of all the world leaders at the United Nations."

"Right, I'll alert our agents to tighten security at the UN building and to do a constant scan for the unique energy signature that Vomesa's micro-sub gives. In the meantime, I suggest you three ladies get back to campus," said Jerry.


	4. Revolting Developments

"I know there's a major emergency going on and everything, but you'd think that Jim Band could at least have given me his phone number in return for saving his life," groused Clover as she slumped back dejectedly on the comfy sofa in West Coast Hall.

Alex looked up from the veterinary studies book she was reading. "Oh come... Hic! On, Clover. After all the missions we've been through, I thought you... Hic! Realised by now that office romances never work out. Hic!"

"Whoa, Alex! Are those hiccups really still bothering you?" asked Sam, a little concerned for her friend.

"Sorry, there's... Hic! Something stuck at the back of my throat and it... Hic! Keeps making me hiccup!"

"Well, hang on a sec. Let me give you a hand," said Clover. She went across to Alex and gave her a couple of strong pats on the back. Alex spluttered slightly and then she smiled in relief.

"Phew, that seems to have done the trick. Thanks Clover!"

"No prob," smiled Clover, but the smile quickly faded as she spotted an annoying figure heading their way. "Oh great, here comes Mandy again."

"Probably come to gloat about that song contest agin," sighed Sam wearily as the bane of their lives strode over to them.

"Well, what are you wannabes up to? Reading up on how to be even bigger losers than you already are?" leered Mandy mockingly at the girls.

"Was there something specific you wanted, Mandy? Or did you just come here to carry on being the spoiled meanie you always have been?" muttered Alex crisply.

"As a matter of fact, I thought you losers would like to know that I am going to appearing on live television tomorrow evening, being interviewed by none other than the nationally famous tv host, Rodney Hines," crowed Mandy.

"WHAT?! You're appearing on 'The Rodney Hines Show'? But that's like the biggest chat show on the planet!" exclaimed Clover infuriatingly.

"Yes, the studio wants to interview me about what it's like being Malibu's new top singer, before they sign me up for promotional tours across the country. I just thought you three nobodies would like to tune in tomorrow to see a real winner in the limelight! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to practice for my interview. Later losers!"

And with that, Mandy walked briskly off, leaving three fuming spies sticking their tongues out at her.

"Can you believe her nerve?" groused Clover. "If she does manage to land all those contracts, she's going to be completely unbearable!"

"Totally! She'll spend the rest of the term boasting about her success and become even more obnoxious than before!" agreed Sam.

"And the worst part is, it should have been Tara's big break," fumed Alex. "There's got to be some way we can show everyone what a real cheat Mandy really is."

The girls pondered about this for a minute, then Clover's face lit up as an idea came to her.

"Hey, I've just remembered something! Didn't Jerry once say that he kept hold of some of Cyril Hearsay's truth serum in the gadget lab?" she asked in a hushed tone so that other students would not overhear.

"Yeah, Jerry thought it would be useful for obtaining evidence from criminals who are particularly hard to question," replied Sam. "Though the serum is only really used as a last resort, due to the ethnic problems it sometimes brings up."

"Hang on a second there, Clover. Are you suggesting that we give some of the serum to Mandy?" asked Alex, quickly catching on to her friend's idea.

"Well, why not? Mandy's spent her whole life lying and cheating to get what she wants. I think it's time she started being a bit more honest from now on," said Clover emphatically.

"Well I guess considering the amount of trouble Mandy has caused WOOHP in the past, Jerry would have no objection to us using the serum if we asked him first," said Sam. "But how would we be able to administer the serum without anyone noticing?"

"Why don't we ask Jerr and see if he has any ideas?" said Alex. She was just starting to reach for her compowder, when the communication gadget suddenly started to ring with it's traditional ringtone. Hurriedly, the girls dashed outside and took cover behind some bushes where they would not be seen and overheard.

"Hey Jerr, we were just about to call you. We kinda have a small favour to ask..." started Clover.

"Sorry Clover, but whatever it is, it will have to wait for the present. I have some rather troubling news regarding Vomesa and Diminutive Smalls," said Jerry solemnly through the compowder's holographic projector.

"You mean they've managed to infiltrate the UN building already?" gulped Alex.

"No, we've run a complete scan of the entire building right down to the smallest atom and every person has been checked for micro-subs lodged in their brains. The results are all negative. It seems that Vomesa and Smalls have given up on their plan and disappeared without a trace."

"Then where could they be?" wondered Sam. "I can't believe they'd just give up on their plans just like that."

"They're probably just lying low till the heat is off," said Clover. "They'll probably strike the moment they think our guard is down."

"Indeed, which is why you girls need to remain vigilant and... Just a second." Jerry was suddenly distracted by an urgent beeping sound coming from the computer on his desk. As he checked the monitor screen, his eyes widened in surprise.

"My word, the WOOHP surveillance satellites are now picking up a faint distress signal and it seems to be being sent from Vomesa's micro-sub!"

"You mean they're giving themselves up? That sounds pretty fishy to me," remarked Clover.

"What, you think they're hanging out with fish?" asked a confused Alex.

"No, she means it could be a trap," clarified Sam, "though I guess it is possible that they crashed or something and now they expect us to bail them out."

"Well I guess this at least saves us having to track them down," sighed Clover who was still feeling a bit skeptical. "Though they do have some nerve asking us for help after all the trouble they've caused."

"So where's the distress call coming from, Jerry?" asked Sam.

There was a loud sound of keyboard buttons pressed as Jerry worked to trace the signal's exact location. "Just triangulating the signal now, girls. I'll have the answer for you in just a..."

Jerry's eyes widened again as the location of the sub's distress beacon came up on his screen. "Oh my, the signal is coming from your exact location!"

"What!? You mean they're here with us? But where?" exclaimed Clover as she whirled her head from one side to the other, trying in vain to catch sight of the miniaturised villains.

"Oh no, I've just had a nasty thought," said Sam, her face turning slightly pale. She activated the scanner function on her own compowder and ran the beam of light over Alex. There was an enthusiastic ping from the compowder as it completed its scan and the results came in on the screen.

"Oh, this is not good! Alex, the distress signal is coming from the bottom of your stomach! That 'fly' you swallowed earlier must have been the micro-sub with Vomesa and Smalls inside," said Sam with a grave look on her face.

"You mean, I _ate _the baddies?!" yelped Alex, her face turning a sickly colour. "Oh, all of a sudden I don't feel so good."

Clover urgently grabbed Alex by the shoulders. "Don't throw up now, Alex. Whatever you do, do NOT throw up!"

* * *

"This is all your fault, you buffoon!" bellowed Vomesa. "If you had just concentrated on the plan instead of trying to blast those wretched spies, we would not be in this mess now!"

"Me a buffoon?" snorted Diminutive Smalls. "It was you who didn't bother to make the engines more robust. If they were, we'd have escaped by now!"

Having crashed into the back of Alex's throat during the battle at the warehouse, Vomesa and Smalls had attempted to simply fly out the way they came, only to find that the engines had gotten damaged in the collision and they now refused to operate properly. Various attempts to repair the engines were severely hampered by Alex's constant hiccuping, which kept causing Vomesa and Smalls to bounce about the interior of the sub like a pair of tennis balls and almost deafening them at times. Furthermore, the two baddies spent more time blaming one another rather than concentrate on the repair job and by the time they calmed down even a little, it was too late as it was at that moment that Clover patted Alex on the back. This caused the sub to dislodge and tumble right down Alex's gullet before finally crashing down at the bottom of the stomach. The resulting collision caused further damage to the sub, rendering most of the controls inoperable, thus leaving the two baddies trapped!

"Aren't any of the controls working?" growled Vomesa, trying to put his temper back in check.

Smalls checked the control panel with an infuriated expression on his face. "Thrusters... Dead. Weapon systems... Dead. Scanners... Gah, the whole system is deader than the dodo!"

"All right, keep calm!" snapped Vomesa. "We still have life support and the forcefield is still operating."

"Yeah, but for how long? The power won't last forever and once it conks out, this brat's stomach acids will tear this ship and us apart!"

"Well it's fortunate that the distress beacon is also still functional," remarked Vomesa. "Once those spies realise what has happened, they'll work to get us extracted to safety."

"What makes you think they won't leave us to be eaten away by the acid?" scoffed Smalls.

"Because they are far too much of goody-two-shoes to leave us to die," pointed out Vomesa. "And even if they weren't, they must realise that if we go, their friend is finished too!"


	5. An Explosive Situation

Having established that the shrunken villains were at the bottom of Alex's stomach, the spies dashed right back to WOOHP, whereupon Alex was rushed straight to the medical bay for a complete examination. Sam and Clover stood supportively on either side of the examination table that Alex was told to lie on with her top rolled up to show her bare stomach. All three of them were feeling a bit apprehensive as the WOOHP scientists carefully ran the ultrasound scanner over Alex's belly, trying to establish the exact location of the micro-sub that was trapped at the bottom of Alex's tummy.

"Hey, that tickles!" complained Alex as the scientist ran the scanner over her belly again. "Is this really necessary, Jerry? I mean it's not like I'm pregnant or anything!"

"Sorry Alex," said Jerry, "but I can assure you this is the best way to establish the exact position of the micro-sub so we may attempt a successful extraction."

There was a sudden and urgent cry from one of the scientists standing by the computer monitors as the data from the ultrasound scan came through.

"I think we've found it, sir!" He pushed a few buttons on his keyboard and the large holographic image appeared, showing the interior of Alex's stomach.

"Ew, gross!" blanched Clover at the sight of some undigested pizza that Alex had eaten earlier that day.

Ignoring her own feelings of revulsion, Sam looked closely at the holographic screen, before pointing excitedly with her finger. "There it is! We've found them okay."

Everybody followed the direction of Sam's finger and sure enough, they could see the micro-sub lying right at the bottom of the stomach. Through its small windows, a couple of tiny figures could be seen shouting and waving fists at one another.

"Those two sure don't look happy about their predicament," smirked Clover.

"Well it's no laughing matter, Clover," said Jerry seriously. "Jim Band's report indicated that this micro-sub is nuclear-powered. At the moment the sub's force-shield is preventing the stomach acids from penetrating the hull. But if the power should fail and the acid breaks through..."

"Then it could cause the nuclear-power cell to explode, resulting in a scaled down nuclear explosion," completed Sam fearfully as the implications of this began to sink in.

"Um, just how scaled down would this explosion be?" asked Alex apprehensively.

"Not enough to cause no harm, I'm afraid," said jerry. "The explosion would be enough to level the whole of WOOHP HQ!"

Alex gulped. "Okay, so I've swallowed a bomb powerful enough to blast me and everyone here to kingdom come. No pressure then."

"Don't worry, Alex," said Clover supportively. "We won't let you get blown to smithereens. Promise!"

"We better get that sub out of your stomach and fast!" added Sam resolutely. "Jerry, do you still have the micro-sub that we used to defeat Vomesa before?"

"Indeed we do," replied Jerry, catching onto Sam's plan of action. "We've had it refitted a bit since you girls last used it, just in case we discovered anything like this happening again. It has improved shielding to protect from stomach acids and a pair of robotic arms which could be used to get hold of the villains' own sub and haul it away."

"Then that'll be our way in," said Sam. "Clover and I can go down there and extract the sub before its shields have a chance to fail."

"You mean _we're _going to go into Alex's intestines as well?" remarked Clover with a pout. "Oh, this is going to be one utterly gross mission. Err, no offence, Alex."

"None taken," said Alex, remembering how revolted she felt when she and the others once voyaged through Jerry's own internal organs during their first encounter with Vomesa.

"We've no other choice, Clover," said Sam firmly. "If we don't get that sub out in time... Well, I guess the consequences don't bear thinking about."

* * *

It took over an hour to fuel and prepare the micro-sub that Sam and Clover would be using, but at last the vessel was all prepared in the WOOHP laboratory. The brilliant scientists of WOOHP worked vigorously at the controls of Vomesa's old shrinking machine, ready to commence the miniaturisation process as soon as the sub's crew were aboard. The door to the laboratory opened and Jerry and the girls strode in and made their way over to the sub. Sam and Clover had each donned a Jet Amphibious Flight Suit, having already been briefed about the course they would have to steer the micro-sub in order to reach Alex's stomach.

"Are you sure these suits will be able to stand up to all that acid once we get in there, Jerr?" asked Clover, who understandably did not relish the prospect of being eaten away in her own best friend's tummy.

"They will, but only for a limited time," answered Jerry. "They should last a maximum of 15 minutes, after which the acid will quickly eat through. We've packed a couple of spare suits in the sub, along with some gadgets which you two might find helpful in there. We'll also stay in constant radio contact with you, so if there's a problem, you can inform us right away."

"Well in that case, I guess we better get onboard then," said Sam.

"Just be careful, girls," said Alex earnestly. "I sure don't want you two to end up floating around in my belly for the rest of my days."

"Don't worry, Alex, everything will be fine," said Clover as she and Sam pulled Alex into a farewell group hug. "We'll be in and out before you know it, you'll see."

As the girls quickly finished saying their goodbyes, Sam and Clover walked up the steps to the micro-sub's entry hatch and clambered into the vessel's main control cabin. As soon as the hatch was closed and securely locked, the two girls sat down on the command seats in front of the steering controls and strapped themselves in, while outside, the WOOHP scientists activated the shrinking ray, which bathed the entire sub with an intense beam of purple energy. Within seconds, the submarine and its occupants began to shrink until they were smaller than the size of a tiny orange pip. Once the shrinking ray was safely powered down, one of the scientists moved over to the sub and knelt down, a pair of tiny tongs in his hand. Using the tongs, he carefully picked up the miniaturised sub and put it into a liquid-filled syringe, before walking over to Alex, who had been told to occupy a semi-reclined couch.

"All ready, Alex?" asked Jerry as another scientist cleaned Alex's arm with a swab.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Jerry," said Alex nervously, having never been that keen on injections.

Satisfied, Jerry nodded to the scientist holding the syringe. In response, the scientist pushed the needle of the syringe into Alex's arm and began to press the plunger, emptying the contents into Alex's vein. Inside the sub, Clover activated the thruster controls and the tiny vehicle, already being pushed forward by the plunger, began to shoot through the needle shaft.

"Well, here we go again!" yelled Sam as she and Clover were pushed back into their seats by the terrific g-force and the sub began its journey to the centre of Alex's body.


	6. Fantastic Voyage Much?

As the spy-sub continued its rapid descent, there was a terrific jolt as the craft exited the syringe and entered Alex's vein. Fighting the terrific force of gravity pushing her into her seat, Clover moved her hand to the control panel and hit a button, which activated the sub's reverse thrusters. Within seconds, the submarine slowed its descent and the push of the g-force subsided.

"Phew, that's better," sighed Clover as she managed to get the vessel under control. "Now which way do we need to go, Sammy?"

Sam moved over to the sub's various monitors and examined the one depicting their current course of passage.

"Oops! We've taken a wrong turning!" she exclaimed. "The current of Alex's blood caused us to take the direction leading to her brain."

"Yuck, I don't want to have to fly around someone's brain again! Let's turn this bucket of bolts around and go back down the other way," said Clover. She was just starting to turn the sub around to head back up, when there was a red light among the controls that began to flash frantically and give off a frantic beeping sound.

"Oh great, now what?" asked Clover.

"It's the proximity alarm," said Sam as she checked the external monitors. "We've got a load of white blood cells heading our way!"

"Not again," grumbled Clover. "Don't these guys ever learn?"

She tried to swerve the sub out of the way, but the blood cells were surprisingly fast and quickly moved to intercept the mechanical intruder. Within seconds, one of the blood cells had managed to catch up with them and wrapped itself firmly around the tiny vessel. Clover quickly jabbed at the thruster controls to try and break free, but the blood cell had a firm grip and refused to let go of its prey.

"Oh, it's no use! This blood cell is a lot more determined than the one we encountered in Jerry's veins!" said Clover, gritting her teeth as she tried to pull the sub free from the giant glob attempting to consume them. As she looked out of the window, she could see the other white blood cells getting nearer, surrounding them on all fronts.

"Well let's try out some of the new defences that Jerry had installed," said Sam frantically as she dashed over to the main controls. She quickly flipped a switch on the panel and the sub's inbuilt forcefields immediately generated a large electromagnetic pulse which blasted the blood cells away from them.

* * *

Back in the lab, Alex bolted upright on the couch with a cry as she felt the effects of the energy pulse.

"Ouch! My arm feels like it's just been stung by a bee! What's going on in there?" she complained.

* * *

"Nice going, Sammy," said Clover as they watched the disoriented blood cells float around them. "Now let's get out of here before round two starts!"

She quickly hit the thrusters again and the sub rocketed back through the passageway of the vein, away from the deadly cells that had almost devoured them. As Sam looked through the porthole, she could see the cells already recovering and thankfully going off in the opposite direction away from them. It took a while for the girls to get the sub back on course, but at last they managed to reach the route that would take them to Alex's stomach.

"Phew, that was a close one," breathed Sam. "Let's hope the sub didn't suffer any damage as a result."

There was a sudden beeping sound from the communication terminal. Clover hit a switch on the panel and a hologram of Jerry and Alex's faces appeared before them.

"Are you all right in there, girls?" he asked in concern. "Alex felt a sudden electric jolt and the radar shows that you were a bit off course. You haven't run into any trouble have you?"

"Just a bit of a run-in with some blood cells," explained Sam. "We did have a bit of a wrong turn, but we should be back on course now. We had to blast off the cells with an electromagnetic pulse. Sorry if that all hurt, Alex."

"That's okay," said Alex. "Just give me a bit more warning next time you do that."

"Well, we should be reaching the stomach shortly," said Clover. "Hopefully there won't be any more surprises waiting for us in there."

Clover was going to be in for a colossal disappointment. Unbeknown to her and Sam, the white blood cell that had tried to engulf them had managed to cause a small tear in one of the sub's fuel pipes, which was now slowly leaking. The small sized fuel was in no way dangerous to Alex's health, as her cells would quickly get rid of the oily substance. But if the gradual leak continued unchecked, Sam and Clover would not have enough juice left in the engines for the return trip. They would be trapped floating about in Alex's organs forever.

Oblivious to the predicament of their vessel, Sam and Clover continued to steer the sub down the dark tunnel of the vein, illuminated only by lights from the sub. Clover blanched a little at the weird and slightly disgusting outlines of the fleshy passageway, feeling as though they were currently flying through some strange alien world.

"Hey look ahead," said Sam pointing ahead. "I think we've reached the opening into the stomach."

Clover looked forward and sure enough, she could see the end of the tunnel ending into a round hole that presumably led into the main stomach.

"So that's the opening into Alex's tummy," remarked Clover. "But have we any idea how we're going to get out again?"

"We'll get out through the lower sphincter," explained Sam. "That's the passageway that food particles go through before entering the stomach."

"But doesn't that only open up when there's actually food going down? Won't we be left trapped in the stomach once that thing closes?"

"Nah, we managed to get out of Jerry's stomach with no probs, remember," answered Sam. "All we have to do once we're inside is wait for the sphincter to open again and fly through before it closes. We'll then simply head up Alex's throat, before exiting through her mouth."

"In that case, full speed ahead!" cried Clover as she activated the thruster controls again and sent the sub rocketing ahead. The sturdy craft flew right through the end of the vein and into the main stomach, where Sam and Clover could not help but look around with a mixture of wonder and nausea. Although they had been through this before when they had to go through Jerry's stomach to catch Vomesa, they had forgotten just how vast the stomach was at their current size. It looked to them like a vast round chamber, filled with various pieces of icky misshapen organic matter, that often splashed against the main window of the sub, like giant red blobs of muck.

"Eew!" groused Clover at the sight of the rapidly dissolving globules around them. "it's a good thing Alex can't see any of this. She'd end up feeling sickly for weeks!"

"Just concentrate on finding the bad guys' own sub," said Sam steadily, trying to hide how repulsed their surroundings were making her feel. "The sooner we catch them, the sooner we can get out of here."

Fighting the urge to each grab a barf bag, the two spies carefully began to scour every part of the stomach, searching for any trace of Vomesa and Smalls' own craft. But as the hours went by, they had no luck in their search and were both beginning to feel that this was one mission they were not going to be able to complete.

"Oh, this is getting us nowhere," sighed Clover. "We've been searching for ages and have come up with zilch for all our troubles."

"I'm beginning to think you're right," agreed Sam dispiritedly. "Still we can't afford to give up now, not with Alex's life on the line. Let's take another look across that ridge there."

Wearily, Clover steered the sub across the bottom of the stomach and over the rim ahead of them. Suddenly, the sub's scanner gave an excited buzz as the inbuilt metal detectors managed to locate something.

"Hey, the scanners are picking something up," exclaimed Sam as she studied the instruments. "Clover, I think we may have found them!"

"We sure have," said Clover with an elated smile. "Look down there!"

They looked through the port window, where they could see the unmistakable configuration of the villains' own micro-sub, buried under a pile of muck. The main window was just about visible and through it they could see the familiar figures of Dr Vomesa and Diminutive Smalls bellowing at each other inside.

"Whoa, have they been busy having one massive slanging match this whole time?" remarked Clover. "These guys really need to learn to chill out a bit more."

Nodding in agreement, Sam moved over to the gadget cabinet and got out a pair of Heat Sensor 6000 Infrared Motion Detector Sunglasses. Slipping them on, she looked out of the window and made a quick scan of the micro-sub below them.

"Uh-oh, this can't be good," she said worriedly. "It looks like their shields have almost run out of power and some of the stomach acid is getting through. If something isn't done soon, the shields will give way completely."

Clover's face paled. "So then the acid will get to the nuclear battery and it'll be ka-boom time for us all!"


	7. Sub Rescue

Sam studied the workings of the villain's micro-sub carefully with the Infrared Motion Detector Sunglasses, trying to find any way that they could repair the shields in the short time they had before the acid got through to the nuclear battery and cause Alex to quite literally explode, along with WOOHP HQ.

"Hey, I think I can see an access panel on the side of the sub," Sam said at last. "We should be able to access the sub's power unit from there."

"So we can try to extract the nuclear battery and get it back to our sub where the acid can't get at it," realised Clover. "Nice thinking Sammy! But what about Vomesa and Smalls? We can't leave them to be reduced to food waste, even if they are bad guys."

"Well I think Jerry gave us something else in the gadget cabinet that can help us with that," said Sam as she extracted a pair of shield belts from the locker. "These were meant to help protect us from the acid in case our Amphibious suits failed to work, but perhaps we can link them to the micro-sub's systems and generate a new forcefield bubble."

"But the power of those things won't last forever," pointed out Clover. "I know Jerr said that the WOOHP scientists had improved the batteries of those belts, but protecting that sub will still take a lot of juice out of them."

"We'll just have to hope that the power will last long enough for us to get the micro-sub out of Alex's stomach," said Sam gravely as she bundled her long red hair into a swimming cap. "Now we better get out there before it's too late!

* * *

Minutes later, the spy subs' airlock hatch opened and the two girls began swimming their way down to the villain's own submarine, each of them carrying a piece of equipment necessary for the mission, including the shield belts and an acid-proof lead box to contain the nuclear battery. As they got closer and pushed their way through the weakened forcefield, they could see Vomesa and Smalls still arguing with each other, apparently oblivious to the two spies coming to their rescue.

"Boy, those guys really don't like each other do they?" sighed Sam. "They're not even trying to do anything to get themselves out of this mess."

"Maybe it's just as well," said Clover as she swam over to the access panel on the side of the sub. "So long as they concentrating on each other, they might not get any clever ideas and try to bump us off or something."

As Sam swam over to join her friend, Clover got out her laser lipstick and quickly began to cut through the panel in order to access the systems inside. Sam nervously looked at the acid-proof timer strapped about her wrist, all too aware that they only had a limited amount of time before the acid would start eating its way through their suits.

"You better hurry, Clover. We only have about 12 minutes before we end up being acid-fodder as well!" Sam said urgently.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" retorted Clover. "Hang on, I'm almost there."

A few seconds later, Clover had managed to finish cutting through the panel, which began to float away until she quickly moved to catch it. Sam floated over to the exposed machinery now displayed and quickly began to wire the shield belts into the sub's systems, taking care not to accidentally to cause a short-circuit and leave the sub with no shields at all.

"There, that should do it," she said finally, making sure the belts were properly wedged in place. She then flicked a switch on the junction box and the sub immediately began to generate a large energy field that engulfed it, stopping the acid from getting in.

"Phew, that's better," said Sam. "Now let's get that nuclear battery out of there."

The process of removing the battery took a bit longer to do, but now that the energy field was in place, the girls did not have to worry at the moment about the acid eating through their suits. Taking care not to damage the lead container that held the battery and prevented any radiation leakage, Sam carefully pulled the whole thing out of the complex machinery and deposited it into the acid-proof box that Clover held out in front of her.

"Are you sure those two won't need this for life-support and everything?" asked Clover as she closed the box and locked the latches in place.

"Nah, the oxygen and heating systems work on ordinary electric power," replied Sam. "They just need this radioactive baby to make their defences and weaponry super-powerful for their evil plans!"

"Fat lot of good it did them in the end," grinned Clover. "Now let's get back to our own sub and blow this this joint! Oh, sorry. Bad choice of words there."

Luckily for the girls, their suits were designed to enable them to pass through the strengthened force-shields without any problems, so they got straight on with swimming back up to their own craft.

Suddenly, Clover stopped as she spotted something shoot past in the corner of her eye. "Er, Sam. Did you see that?"

"See what? We don't have time for sightseeing, Clover. We only have about seven minutes before the acid starts eating us up."

"I'm being serious here, Sammy!" rejoined Clover. "I think we may not be alone here."

The two spies floated about for a few seconds, looking apprehensively for any sign of danger, but there did not seem to be anything about.

Clover sighed. "Sorry, I guess I must be getting jumpy."

Sam turned her head to one side and her eyes widened in alarm. "Er, 'fraid not, Clover. Look!"

Sam pointed towards a swarm of spongy 'Y'-shaped creatures a short distance away, moving menacingly towards them.

"Eew, what are those things?" gagged Clover in revulsion.

"They must be antibodies," realised Sam, "and I don't think they're too happy about us being here. Come on, let's get out of here!"

The girls frantically began to swim back to the sub, but the antibodies were faster than they were and as a result, the gap between prey and hunter was quickly diminishing. Chancing a glance over her shoulder, Clover let out a squeak of alarm as she could see the deadly proteins getting closer and closer by the second.

"Oh man, what is the problem with these guys? I mean, we are trying to save them and all."

"Yeah, but they don't realise that," pointed out Sam breathlessly. "Don't worry, we're almost at the airlock. We'll be safe inside the sub."

But no sooner had Sam said this, a few of the antibodies had managed to catch up with them and had begun wrapping themselves around Clover's foot!

"Hey, get off me, you microscopic jerks!" shouted Clover as she tried to kick the antibodies off with her other foot.

Realising what had happened, Sam began to swim back to help, but to her horror, the rest of the swarm had now managed to catch up with them. Realising what was about to happen, Clover had just enough time to toss the case containing the nuclear battery over to Sam, before the blonde superspy found herself completely engulfed by the antibodies that were intent on consuming her.


	8. The Voyage Home

Refusing to let herself give in to panic, Sam spotted Clover's outstretched hand sticking out through the pile of antibodies covering her. Thinking fast, Sam quickly fired her Expandable Cable Bungee Belt and the buckle managed to wrap itself around Clover's wrist. Beneath the swarm burying her, Clover realised what had just grabbed her wrist and she was just able to grab hold of the main cable with her hand, before Sam began to reel the cable in. Sam pulled with all her might and within seconds, Clover was wrenched free of the mass of proteins that had just tried to neutralise her. However, some of the antibodies were still wrapped tightly her and were gradually squeezing the life out of her.

"Sammy... Hurry!" Clover managed to gasp. "It's... getting a bit... difficult to... breathe right now!"

Sam quickly grabbed her friend and the two of them managed to get into the spy-sub's airlock, which automatically closed the hatch behind them. Inside, the airlock began to empty the water out of the chamber as Sam desperately began to claw the antibodies off Clover's body. At first the antibodies refused to budge, but as the water levels finished dropping and oxygen began to flood in, the antibodies stiffened and began to crystallise. Sam was thus able to break off the now brittle antibodies and Clover collapsed to the floor gasping for breath.

"Ahh, thanks Sammy," sighed Clover as she tried to catch her breath. "I thought... I was a... total goner back there!"

Sam gingerly helped her friend to her feet and together they clambered out of the airlock and into the main control cabin.

"Just take it easy, Clover," said Sam as she tenderly helped her friend into a seat. "You'll be okay once you get your breath back."

Clover gave a weak smile. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. But can we start making our way home now?"

"No prob," smiled Sam as she moved across to the main controls and sat down in the driver's seat. "We just need to pick up those two misfits in their own sub, then we can get out of this icky place."

Sam began operating the controls and the spy-sub sprung into life, moving its way down towards the villains' submarine. As Sam flicked another switch, two large robotic arms with pincer-like hands began to fold out, one on either side of the spy-sub. As the gap between the two vessels began to close, Sam carefully guided their own sub's large metal claws to grab hold of the energy bubble currently enveloping the other micro-sub, before lifting it and its two squabbling occupants off the the bumpy surface of Alex's stomach.

"Gotcha!" said Sam triumphantly. "Okay, now let's clear out of here."

* * *

In the WOOHP lab, Alex and Jerry were waiting anxiously for fresh news on Sam and Clover's progress. When last checked, the scanners had indicated that both subs were still floating about in Alex's belly and Jerry had been unable to get through on the communicators, as Sam and Clover had been busy with extracting the micro-sub's nuclear battery at the time.

"Man, all this waiting is making me nervous," sighed Alex. "Look Jerry, don't you think we should do all this somewhere more remote. I mean, if this thing in my tummy explodes, I don't want to take the whole of WOOHP with me."

"Out of the question, Alex. We're going to need the equipment here if we're to have any hope of getting that micro-sub out of you," said Jerry. "We've already evacuated all non-essential personnel and energy fields have been set up outside the building in order to contain any radiation that might get out."

The conversation was then interrupted by a sudden beeping sound from the communication terminal. Jerry crossed over and pressed a button on the machine, whereupon a holographic projection of Sam and Clover appeared before everyone in the room.

"Hey Jerr, we've managed to get hold of the micro-sub okay and we're just starting to head our way back up now," said Sam. "Alex, do you have any of those cinnamon munchy bars of yours on hand?"

"Well, yeah," said Alex in confusion. "But I'm not exactly in the mood for eating right now, Sammy."

"Yeah, well we need you to eat one now, in order to get your lower sphincter to open up and let us out," explained Sam.

"Okay, if you think it'll help," said Alex, as she pulled a bar out of her pocket and unwrapped it. She began munching her way through the bar, swallowing down the tasty food particles straightaway.

* * *

Down below in Alex's stomach, Sam and Clover were patiently waiting for the passageway out to open up. About a minute later, the sphincter began to open, allowing bits of food to enter the vast chamber.

"Okay, hit it Sam!" said Clover urgently.

Sam quickly hit the ignition button and the spy-sub rocketed through the opening, just managing to get out in time before the sphincter closed up again.

"Made it," breathed Sam. "Now all we have to do is fly back up the way we came."

After setting the thrusters on maximum power in order to compensate for the heavy load their sub was now holding on to, the spies began piloting the craft back up the oesophagus towards Alex's mouth.

Clover kept a close eye on the radar screen, making sure there were no more nasty surprises waiting for them. "Can't see any more antibodies or anything else nasty coming our way," she said at last. "I think we're in the clear."

Suddenly the submarine's engines began making a loud stuttering sound and before Sam and Clover knew what was happening, their craft began to slow its ascent, just as they were on the verge of reaching their way out.

"Hey, now what's going on?" exclaimed Sam as she hurriedly began examining the controls for any sign of damage. "We're losing engine power and fast!"

Clover glanced at the fuel gauge and her face fell. "Oh great, this bucket of bolts has run out of gas! We must have got ourselves a fuel leak at some point."

Sam hit the communication button again. "Err Jerry, we've run into a bit of trouble. The fuel's running out and we're now kinda stuck."

"Yeah, this thing's going to be completely out of petrol in just a few minutes," added Clover urgently. "Then we'll end up falling right back down into Alex's stomach again and this time for good!"

"Oh dear," said Jerry. "Don't worry girls, we'll try to think of a way to get you out of there."

* * *

"So what's the plan, Jerry?" asked Alex anxiously, her fears of her two best friends being trapped inside her intestines becoming all too real by the second.

"Quite simple really," said Jerry. "You'll just have to sneeze them out as I ended up doing! Is there anything you're particularly allergic to, Alex?"

"Well, I used to have a small allergy problem with cats when I was younger," said Alex, "but I got over that years ago. I don't have any real problems with allergies these days, unless you happen to have any kelp in the staff canteen."

"I'm afraid we don't have anything like that in the building. Then there's only one thing for it," said Jerry cryptically as he crossed over to one of the lab desks and extracted a white feather from the drawer. Before Alex knew what was happening, Jerry had thrust the feather under her nose and he began tickling her with it!

"Ahh... ahh... AH-CHOO!"

Alex jerked forward on the couch as she gave off a terrific sneeze, loud enough to make everyone in the room jump in surprise. As Jerry watched, he could just see the two micro-subs shot right out of Alex's mouth and crash onto the end of the couch, covered in saliva.

"You know, you could have told me you were about to do that, Jerr," complained Alex as her boss picked up the two submersibles and placed them back under the shrinking ray. There was a flash of light as the machine emitted a beam to reverse the process and within seconds, both craft and their respective occupants were all back to normal size. Sam and Clover were first to get out, a little bruised, but otherwise none the worse for their precipitous exit. Meanwhile, WOOHP guards had surrounded the bad guys' own submersible, from which a disheveled Vomesa was frantically climbing out through the entry hatch.

"All right Vomesa, no sudden moves," said the first guard. "It's back to the containment facility for you."

"Anything you say, just get me away from that overbearing, small-minded simpleton in there!" exclaimed Vomesa as he practically ran into the arms of the nearest guard and allowed himself to be escorted out of the lab and back to the containment facility.

"Wow, Vomesa and Smalls really don't mix together, do they?" remarked Clover.

As if on cue, Diminutive Smalls slowly poked his head over the top of the hatch, returned to his unnatural size of two feet.

"Okay Smalls, playtime's over," said the leading guard as he moved to extract Smalls from the sub. But before he could take another step closer, Smalls suddenly whipped out a small compact laser gun and quick as a flash, he blasted the guard with it. Before anyone else knew what was happening, the unfortunate WOOHP agent was enveloped in a beam of light and began to shrink down until he was the size of a mouse!

"Sorry, but I'm not done playing yet," leered Smalls as he dashed out through the hatch and slid down the side of the sub, firing various laser blasts to ward off the remaining guards, forcing them to keep their distance. Satisfied that no one was chasing him, Smalls began to dash towards the nearest ventilation duct set at the bottom of the wall ahead of him.

"He's getting away!" yelled Sam as she and the others tried to take cover to avoid the various shrinking ray blasts flying past them.

"Oh no, he's not!" cried out Alex as she leapt off the couch and jumped on top of a nearby table, grabbing a convenient silver tray and a glass measuring beaker next to her. Sprinting into action, Alex leapt from table to table in pursuit of Smalls, using the reflective tray as a shield to deflect any laser beams.

Smalls was just on the verge of reaching the small air-duct, when Alex's shadow suddenly came over him. With some alarm, he whirled around and fired his laser again, but Alex managed to shield herself with the silver tray just in time. The fast-moving laser rebounded off the reflective surface and ricocheted right back at Smalls, who was then engulfed in the dazzling light of his own shrink ray.

"Oh no, not again!" he wailed as he was reduced to the size of a bug. Before he could gather his senses and make a dash for it, Alex had landed in front of him and she slammed the glass beaker right over him, trapping him inside!

"I wouldn't try to use that gun of yours again," grinned Alex. "Not unless you want your prison to end up really tight and uncomfortable! That'll teach you to mess around with my tummy!"

"Nice going, Alex," smiled Sam as she and the others dashed over to join her. "Well I guess that's the end of this mission, luckily."

"Quite," agreed Jerry as one of the WOOHP guards picked up the beaker and carried Smalls away. "Now I think it's time to get these micro-subs put back into storage."

Clover looked at the spy-sub thoughtfully, a scheming glint in her eye. "Actually Jerry, would you mind if we borrowed the micro-sub, just for tomorrow evening?"

Jerry looked at her in puzzlement. "I suppose I wouldn't mind. But what on earth do you want it for?"


	9. The Fall Of Mandy

Inside the state-of-the-art filming studios of 'Sprint Media Studios', Rodney Hines was sitting on his customary presenters' chair, on the main set of his fabulous show. The cameras in front of him were all ready to start filming live to television screens all across the country in just a few minutes and right now he was struggling to keep his composure. His main guest speaker for this evening was a right spoilt brat, bossing the entire crew around like mad and practically hectoring the producers into giving her as much screen-time as possible, with most of the cameras now set to focus on her instead of the presenter. If there was one thing Rodney Hines hated, it was a glory-hog.

"But seriously though," droned on Mandy as she settled back into the comfortable guest chair placed next to Hines, "the focus should really all be on me. After all, I am the one the public really wants to see."

"You don't say," muttered Hines, grinding his teeth in the process. He still had a headache from having to hear the recording of Mandy's song, which to him sounded like the wails of a cat being strangled by barbed wire. Hines had quickly developed a personal dislike towards Mandy and he was really beginning to hope that something would occur during this show that would utterly show this obnoxious girl up. He had no way of knowing at the time, but his wish was about to come true.

Hidden behind the main backdrop of the set was Jerry, who had disguised himself as a maintenance man and was intently taking in the whole scene for anything that might upset the girls' little operation. When Clover had explained the problem with Mandy to him, Jerry heartily agreed to loan the refuelled micro-sub to the girls, but only on the condition that he would be on hand to make sure that nothing went wrong and the girls would not be left in a perilous situation like Vomesa and Smalls were.

Satisfied that the time was right, Jerry carefully opened his hand, to reveal the miniaturised spy-sub in his palm. Inside the sub, the three girls were all seated at the controls and ready to put their little scheme into operation in order to expose Mandy for the fraud that she was.

"I think now's as good a time as any, girls," whispered Jerry into the microphone hidden inside his cap.

"Okay, Jerry. Wish us luck!" said Sam as she hit the thruster controls and set the micro-sub in motion. As the tiny vehicle began to rocket through the air, Alex punched a button which activated the craft's inbuilt cloaking device, rendering them invisible to the naked eye. That way, there was less danger of someone mistaking them for a fly and trying to swat them out of the sky.

Clover carefully steered the sub towards Mandy, her large taunting face growing increasing large before them, like something out of a horror movie. Trying to ignore the unpleasant visage before their eyes, the girls manoeuvred the micro-sub, until it discreetly hovered right inside Mandy's left nostril.

"Eww, that is so gross!" remarked Alex at the sight of Mandy's hairy and snot-covered nasal opening.

"Yeah, let's get this done already!" said Clover as she flicked a switch on the control panel. A second later, a vent opened up on the side of the sub and began to dispense a clear puff of smoke. This was Cyril Hearsay's truth serum and as it climbed its way up Mandy's nose, the vulgar girl suddenly began sneezing, unknowingly blowing the spy-sub away from her.

There was a tense few seconds as the spies struggled with the steering lever, but they managed to get the sub under control and quickly made their way back to Jerry, landing onto the palm of his outstretched hand.

"Man, do you think we gave her enough of the serum in time," wondered Clover.

"We'll soon find out," said Sam. "Look, the show's starting!"

As the girls watched through their craft's main window, they could see the main lights dimming and the spotlights and cameras switching on as the show started broadcasting. In his seat, Rodney Hines put on a forced smile for his audience and began with the introductions.

"Hiya folks! Tonight my guest star is a young lady by the name of Mandy. You may all know her as the winner of this year's annual Malibu singing contest, a victory that has somewhat surprised many people, as popularity figures at the time indicated that Tara Robson was going to be the winner. But, there was a major surprise as the judges declared Mandy to be the winner, giving her the opportunity to launch her new singing career."

Hines swivelled his chair to face Mandy, who had a large smirk on her face. "So Mandy, how do you feel about your new unexpected success?"

"Well duh!" said Mandy. "It was hardly unexpected, since I have the judges in my back-pocket!"

Mandy's eyes widened as she suddenly realised what she said and the camera crew looked at her in astonishment.

"Err, pardon me, could you say that again?" said Hines as he tried to comprehend what he had just heard.

"I said I bribed the judges, you idiot!" exclaimed Mandy. She clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to understand why she just said that.

The smile on Hines' face grew less and less fake as he suddenly saw an opportunity to boast his ratings. He did not understand why Mandy was suddenly behaving this way, but clearly someone had just heard and answered his prayers.

"And how were you able to do that, Mandy?" he asked with a look like the cat that had just got the cream.

"I had my intern Trent make some 'anonymous' donations to the judges, enough to convince them to vote me as the winner, instead of that loser Tara!"

Mandy's face grew increasingly red as her brain tried to tell her mouth to shut up. But her mouth seemed to have developed a mind of its own and she could not help but tell the truth.

"But doesn't that mean that Tara was the real winner and you were the loser? That's hardly good sportsmanship, you know," continued Hines.

"Oh puh-lease! I've been rigging competitions like this for years and no-one has bothered to notice," Mandy unwillingly went on. "Losers like that are like so gullible and easily intimidated by my good looks!"

"And I suppose there's nothing that intimidates you?"

Mandy's blush deepened as she heard herself speak. "Well actually, I've always had this fear of pink poodles."

Hines raised an eyebrow. "Poodles? And why is that, may I ask?"

In the micro-sub, the girls watched the whole scene unfold with tremendous glee.

"Man, I almost feel sorry for Mandy," chuckled Alex.

"I sure wish we had brought some popcorn along," added Clover with a grin as they continued watching the show.

* * *

A new day dawned at Malibu and with it came a new flurry of activity at the Mali-U dorm. Having been returned to their normal sizes after the show, the spies were currently exiting their penthouse to do a bit of early shopping before their classes for the afternoon. They were just starting to make their way down the corridor when they noticed that a large crowd of reporters had gathered outside Mandy's room with Trent desperately blocking the door, barring their way in.

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but Mandy can't take any more interviews at the moment," he announced nervously. "You'll have to come back another time."

"But has she nothing to say about her shocking revelation on the 'Rodney Hines Show' last night?" asked one reporter persistently.

"Is there any truth to the rumour that she once tried to quite literally eliminate the competition at the 'Miss Beverley Hills' pageant a couple of years ago?" added another journalist.

"And does she really have a wrinkle on her..." began one of the other interviewers.

There was a sudden terrifying yell from the other side of the door that made all the reporters jump.

"TRENT! Keep those nosey creeps away from me or you're fired!"

The girls watched the scene unfold with amusement as Tara and the other dorm members came over to watch.

"Guess Mandy's having second thoughts about her fame and fortune," chuckled Donna Walker.

Sam turned to look at Tara. "Well Tara, I guess you're this year's singing champion after all."

Tara smiled. "Yeah, now that the truth's come out, all the record companies are now ringing me to ask if they can sign me up instead of Mandy. Not only that, but Rodney Hines also wants to interview me about being the true winner. How rad is that? I sure wonder why Mandy suddenly fessed up the way she did."

"I guess she just got herself a bad whiff of stage fright," Clover chuckled as she shot a meaningful wink at Sam and Alex. The two girls giggled and the three of them got going, leaving Mandy to the tender mercies of the nosey reporters and paparazzi.


End file.
